HIKAKU BUNGAKU Journal of Comparative Literature
Online ISSN : 2189-6844
Print ISSN : 0440-8039
ISSN-L : 0440-8039
Volume 56
Displaying 1-28 of 28 articles from this issue
ARTICLES
  • Buddhism vs. Taoism in Shinsen Man'yōshū
    Weifeng WU
    2014 Volume 56 Pages 7-19
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 07, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    Shinsen Man’yōshū is the first anthology of waka (tanka) in the Heian period, compiled in the last decade of the 9th century. It is well-known that there is a kanshi (qiyan jueju: four-lined seven-syllabic regulated verse in classical Chinese) in tandem with every waka, forming waka-kanshi pairs.

     Although the two sides of the pairs share many similarities in content, the kanshi are not translations of the waka. This paper focuses on the differences in the images of seclusion of the pairs, especially those including expressions about mountains.

     On the waka’s side, secluding into mountains refers to Buddhist practice, whereas on the kanshi’s side, it usually represents an ideal haven for Taoist hermits. This Buddhism vs. Taoism comparison shows that the purpose of the compiler(s) and kanshi composer(s) was to present a comparative perspective of the two literary traditions, as we know from the first volume’s preface that the kanshi were composed after the waka’s compilation.

     The perspective achieved above should not be limited within Shinsen Man'yōshū. It offers us insight into the Heian poets’ comprehension of the waka-kanshi correlation. Therefore, it is fully viable to apply the perspective in the explanation of waka in Kokin Wakashū, which was compiled about ten years later than Shinsen Man’yōshū .

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  • Modernisation et création de l'esthétique classique en Extrême-Orient
    Junko NIMURA
    2014 Volume 56 Pages 20-34
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 07, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     L'objectif de cette article est de présenter le concept de modernisation chez Phạm Quỳnh (1892-1945), un érudit vietnamien qui était un ministre de l'empereur Bao Dai. Quynh a fait la proposition d'un plan culturel de “Renaissance Annamite” en 1922.

     La raison pour laquelle je compare les pensées de Quynh avec celles de Kakuzo Okakura (1863-1913), c'est que ce concept historique de “Renaissance” est commun dans leurs pensées, qu'il y joue un rôle important. Pour comprendre l'idée de Quynh, il me semble utile d'observer ce qu'ils partagaient.

     Pour démontrer la conception de Quynh, l'approche suivante a été adoptée : cette article s'articule autour de trois chapitres.

     Le premier chapitre évoque le dilemme que représente pour Quynh et Okakura l'esthétique Gréco-Romaine qui était considérée à l'époque de l'occidentalisation de Extrême-Orient comme le seul canon existant.

     Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à analyser les sens de cette “Renaissance” qu'ils appellent de leurs voeux pour moderniser leur pays.

     Le troisième chapitre expose les idéaux et l'étendue de cette “Renaissance”. Par la suite, on constate que Quynh a essayé de créer des valeurs classiques propres à l'Extrême-Orient selon ce concept.

     Les résultats de cette étude montrent que leur “Renaissance” est un avantprojet pour réaliser la modernisation idéale de leur pays. Ce n'était pas un moyen essentialiste, cherchant à déterminer des caractéristiques fondamentales, mais au contraire, une méthode pour créer une identité culturelle propre à leur pays permettant d'ouvrir une nouvelle ère et un nouveau style culturel mettant en valeur les diversités civilisationelles.

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  • “Impressions” and “Ideas” in Theory of Literature (Bungakuron)
    Hirofumi IWASHITA
    2014 Volume 56 Pages 35-48
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 07, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Theory of Literature (Bungakuron) was published in 1907. The formula (F+f) appears at the beginning of this work. About this unique formula, Sōseki explains as follows: “One can perhaps approach the form of literary substance with the expression (F+f). F here indicates impressions or ideas at the focal point of consciousness, while f signifies the emotions that attended them.”

     The notion “F” is defined as “impressions or ideas at the focal point of consciousness.” The main purpose of this paper is to offer an interpretation of “F,” and in particular focuses on the terms “impressions” and “ideas” in comparison with the idea of William James in his published work, The Principles of Psychology. Sōseki admitted that he was influenced by James. In fact, it can be said that the unique formula of Theory of Literature is based on James’ concept of “stream of consciousness.” In preceding studies, it is claimed that “impressions” and “ideas”come from David Hume and the notion “F” is also influenced by Hume’s thought. On the contrary, by examining The Principles of Psychology in detail, I suggest that these ideas are influenced not by Hume but by James. Considering what James says, the paper will argue that the unique formula of Theory of Literature is based on James’ idea.

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  • On “Koharu” (The Indian Summer)
    Mimbu KAWAMURA
    2014 Volume 56 Pages 49-62
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 07, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     It is well known that Kunikida Doppo was greatly influenced by William Wordsworth and that the influence can be identified in his various works. One of his short stories “Koharu” (“The Indian Summer”), written in 1900, is among them. In my article, I discuss how Doppo’s “Koharu” closely imitates the structure of “Tintern Abbey” (1798), namely, the contrast of the past and the present; he also establishes a close parallel between the two works with regard to their thematic content – the meaning of which he intimately grasps. Therefore, Doppo once more immerses himself in the Wordsworthian world and revives himself, be it though for a brief time. In the story, Doppo accompanies himself with a young painter on his trip to Musashino in a way similar to that in which Wordsworth accompanied himself with his sister Dorothy on his second visit to the Wye as “an incarnation of his earlier self,” (1) for both of them well knew “[t]he still, sad music of humanity.”(2)

     In addition to discussing the comparison of the theme and structure of these two works, this article focuses on another intimate relation found in “Koharu” – its creative use of Miyazaki Koshoshi’s Wordsworth (1893), the first Wordsworthian biography written in Japanese, which is mostly based on F. W. H. Myers’s Wordsworth (1885), one of the greatest biographies ever composed on the poet. “Koharu” contains several passages from Koshoshi’s biography which invite Doppo to remember his old days in the country and one of which is taken significantly from Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes. Since no scholar to date has paid attention to this fact, its significance will be emphatically discussed in this article.

     Notes: (1) Harold Bloom, The Visionary Company (Faber, 1961), p. 133.

      (2) Jack Stillinger, ed., William Wordsworth: Selected Poems and Prefaces,Riverside edition (1965), p. 110.

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  • Modern Criticism of Nordic Literature
    Teiko NAKAMARU
    2014 Volume 56 Pages 63-78
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 07, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     This thesis deals with Yamamuro Shizuka’s reception of Nordic literature, especially that of Selma Lagerlöf. Yamamuro is the first Japanese author who received Nordic literature comprehensively and systematically. I analyze how Yamamuro received Nordic literature and why he did so, to analyze the prototype of Nordic image as a nostalgic idyll and Lagerlöf as a visionary pacifist.

     First, I will write about Yamamuro’s life and thoughts. He was a Marxist and renounced the left (known as “Tenkō” or “changing direction”). After the Second World War he founded the magazine Kindaibungaku (“modern literature”), in collaboration with five other authors who had also changed direction. Their purpose was to provide a national community, because they thought that the callowness of the modern ego had been the cause of militarism and fascism. Yamamuro and the other members often presented Nordic literature in Kindaibungaku.

     Next, I will analyze the relationship between Yamamuro’s ideas about modernism and his reception of Nordic literature. After his ideological change of direction, Yamamuro criticized American, Russian and German literature, which he had previously presented often as a Marxist, stating that the revolution was too superficial and temporary. At that time he empathized with classic literature from Japan and China. But Yamamuro was not engaged in the presentation of classic literature, because in his opinion, the classical authors had no reason, and therefore, no conflict. Therefore, Yamamuro embraced Nordic literature as the periphery of modernity for countries such as Japan, which did not show evidence of high modernity, in contrast to nations such as America, Russia and Germany, which were not stagnant as were the old Japan and China.

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